Good evening, these are the top coronavirus headlines tonight:
Top headlines:
- In a bid to match the latest forms of COVID-19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked vaccine manufacturers to tailor their new shots to the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants – but will those modified boosters be ready in time for a potential fall surge?
- After two summers of lockdowns – your kids need music festivals
An increasing number of health agencies have changed how they're reporting data on the coronavirus. A look at the current numbers in Canada for reported cases, deaths from COVID-19 and for hospitalizations can be found here.
COVID-19 updates from Canada and the world
- U.S. regulators committed last week to updating the 2020 vaccine recipes for this fall’s booster campaign with new formulas meant to defend against the ultra-contagious omicron subvariants, known as BA.4 and BA.5, which appear to be driving a fresh surge of cases across much of the United States. Now the question is whether those modified boosters will arrive in time.
- Ontario’s New Democrats are calling on Premier Doug Ford to share his plan for expanded fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses. The Premier said last week that the government has been discussing its fourth dose plan with the province’s chief medical officer and promised that details would come “in the next little while.”
- Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang, says the province’s few remaining COVID-19 restrictions will be dropped this week. Starting Wednesday, it will become strongly recommended – but no longer mandatory – for people who test positive for COVID-19 to isolate. The government’s advice on masking in public will also shift from being strongly recommended to optional.
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Pandemic recovery
- After two summers that were marred by the coronavirus pandemic, experts say there is no better time than this summer to introduce children to the release of live music in the open air.
- Kicking off peak travel season, the Canada Day long weekend saw scenes of long lines and luggage labyrinths at airports across the globe. Canadian airports topped the list for flight delays caused by a rebound in traveller traffic as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.
- A recent surge in demand for passports is creating massive backlogs across Canada. The misery of waiting overnight in line in hopes of getting a passport has become common from Vancouver to Montreal, as travel returns to close to pre-pandemic levels.
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Globe opinion
André Picard: There’s another COVID-19 vaccine rollout coming (cue the collective groan)
Ambarish Chandra and Duncan Dee: Cuts to air travel in Canada are an admission that this crisis won’t be over soon
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More reading
- Community health leaders in Toronto rallied by bringing pop-up vaccine clinics to some of the hardest-hit areas of the city once they realized that the most devastating effects of COVID-19 were being felt by racialized individuals
- Hundreds of thousands of Air Canada passengers have had their flights cancelled this summer as the airline struggles to keep up with a resurgence of travel now that COVID-19 restrictions have eased. Here’s a look a what’s happening to those impacted
- After more than two years of disruptions with office work caused by COVID-19, the hybrid approach has emerged as a leading model – but not everyone is a fan.
Information centre
- Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
- When will COVID-19 be endemic? The four factors that will shape the virus’s future
- Wastewater is filling the COVID-19 data gap
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